


Transition, Transmission

by lilydvoratrelundar



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: But im gonna try, Gallifrey, Gen, Rated T because i'm a bit sweary sometimes, and probably fail, but try, so should be fun, this could go in many directions because i haven't fully plotted it out except a start and end, we'll see whether this fits into canon when i've finished it, yeah this is validating trans headcanon time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23189044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilydvoratrelundar/pseuds/lilydvoratrelundar
Summary: Romana is in having a tough time, stranded on a dull, unfriendly world known as Gallifrey, but when she gets an offer from a mysterious entity she finally decides to get her act together. And naturally, that involves a little bit of crime.
Relationships: The Doctor & Romana (Doctor Who)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place just before The Ribos Operation and I guess is a sort of prequel to it, but I'm fairly sure it works without knowing that episode, don't worry.

Romanadvoratrelundar was worried. This in itself was not altogether uncharacteristic of her, as she did tend to have a lot on his mind and-  _ Rassilon _ , she thought,  _ I’ve done it again _ . This gender thing was confusing. She may have lived with it for a number of years, but the mix of signals really messed with her head. She still occasionally referred to herself with her old name, and had to kick herself every time she messed up her pronouns. It really was unfortunate that she hadn’t told anybody, but she didn’t dare take that risk out of fear that they would mock her, or worse, tell Borusa. Besides, Romana had always been particularly poor at making attachments, even for a Time Lord. Unfortunately, the person she spent the most time with was acting President Borusa.

While acting President Borusa was not  _ technically _ the official President of the Supreme Council of Gallifrey and All Her Dominions, Holder of the Wisdom of Rassilon, Preserver of the Matrix, and Guardian of the Legacy of Omega (he was attempting to downplay the title “acting” by refusing to capitalise it under any circumstances), he was trying his very best to rule with an iron fist, or at the very least aluminium or another suitable lightweight alternative. That included stamping out any attempts at nonconformity in the rigid structure of Time Lord life. This little fact getting out could easily mean banishment, either from the Citadel or from the planet. And if word got round to the other students that she was looking to change gender… Romana shuddered at the very thought. Though they may be destined to be a part of the most civilised civilisation in the galaxy, the students at the Academy were clearly not there yet, and deserved to be avoided as much as possible.

But all of this wasn’t what Romana was worried about at that present moment. There was something bigger, something all-consuming that left any gender-related confusion in the dust. Romana was worried about her work.

Borusa, as acting President, had managed to pull a few strings and secured a place for his favourite pupil at the Bureau Of Ancient Records, a vast library containing thousands of archived books and artifacts from the Dark Times. Romana could, and indeed had, spent hours reading up on lore from the old times. The Great Vampires, the Krikkit Wars, Omega, you name it and Romana had at l east read a paragraph or two on it. Of course, she had to do a bit of work there, reorganising the shelving system every week (which was certainly not just a petty way of getting her own back on her peers), but those in charge had pretty much allowed her to roam free, as long as she helped them fill in reports to Borusa about how well she was doing in the many tasks they said she did for them. However, a reasonably young and unknown time lord, Blancasdrulomsang (or Blancas, as even Time Lords had limited time), had recently been promoted into the senior position in the Bureau, and scheduled Romana for a meeting as soon as he was able to do so. She hadn’t the faintest idea what it could be for - as far as she didn’t she had been too conspicuous with the re-arranging, she hadn’t taken the only copy of some rare document that was needed in yet another crisis, and it had been a few weeks since she’d spilled tea on another irreplaceable record she’d been idly flicking through.

She reached the door of Blancas’ office, and politely knocked. She waited a few seconds for a response and, when none came, risked a glance around the door. Blancas spotted her instantly and greeted her in a warm voice.

“Hello there! Do sit down, I’d rather you made use of the space before paperwork surrounds me!” he chuckled, and Romana was instantly struck by how different Blancas really was to the other Time Lords she knew. Borusa remained throughout regenerations an old man with a pale complexion and a dry attitude, the workers in the Bureau believed that turning a blind eye to Romana’s exploration of their records was the most dangerous and exciting thing that they would ever do, and the students of the Academy would slowly have any life contained within them drained by their droning teachers.

Life on Gallifrey was expected to be monotonous and devoid of humour, fun,  _ life _ . But here this man was, stood in his office surrounded by strange components and used mugs, searching round for a fresh one to offer her a cup of tea. He was dressed in traditional Time Lords fashion but had added, with presumably much effort, a hawiian shirt with dove patterning over the top of his robes. The smile on his face seemed enough to soften even the harshest of punishments he was about to inflict upon her, and when he spoke there was none of the arrogance and condescension that accompanied everything said on Gallifrey.

Romana blinked, and realised he was talking to her. Shit.

“So what do you say to that then?” he was asking

Romana’s brain took a second to boot up again. “Uhh, sorry what was that?”.  _ Not the greatest first impression _ , she thought.

Blancas smiled, “I was only asking if you would be able to join another Time Lord I have chosen in completing a few tasks for me”

“Yes, of course sir”, Romana said, her mind still attempting to catch up with what she’d missed, “Would that be in the archives, sir?”

That gentle chuckle again. “Not quite. It reaches a little further than that. Tell me, have you ever heard of the Key To Time? Oh no, I didn't expect you to know of these things,” he said as Romana opened her mouth to speak. “It’s just so much easier to get conversation flowing with a rhetorical question to start, don’t you think?” Romana assumed that was rhetorical as well, and kept her mouth shut. “ The Key to Time is a perfect cube, which maintains the equilibrium of time itself. It consists of six segments, and these segments are scattered and hidden throughout the cosmos. When they are assembled into the cube, they create a power which is too dangerous for any being to possess. There are times, however, when the forces within the universe upset the balance to such an extent that it becomes necessary to stop everything, for a brief moment only, until the balance is restored. Such a moment is rapidly approaching. These segments must be traced and returned to me before it is too late, before the Universe is plunged into eternal chaos. And you’ve just zoned out again, haven’t you?”

“Sorry, sir, it won’t happen again, sir.” Romana responded quickly, then thought for a moment. “You’re not a Time Lord, are you?” she smiled her broadest smile, hoping to win her way through this encounter using charm and a quick wit, as all of her heroes from the books she read did. “If you were, you wouldn’t be sending a student on this quest. You could simply call up His Pompous Majesty Borusa and send the best-behaved Time Lord you could find on this quest. So,” Romana paused for effect - the most important class the Academy taught was how to make everything you say sound impressive - “Why me?”

“Well, to put it simply, you’re not the same. You’ve been unsatisfied with life. You’re looking for escape. And I can offer that to you. So, what do you say to that,” it was his turn to pause for effect, “Romana?”

Romana spluttered on her tea. “What did you just call me?”

“Oh. Have I got that wrong?”

“No, no, it’s just…” Romana broke off momentarily, considering her options carefully.

“Just... what?” Blancas prompted.

Oh, sod it. “Nobody calls me that. Nobody knows me as that. I chose it myself after all, it’s not particularly… fitting for someone of...” She breathed out slowly, and came to a conclusion, “someone of my gender. ”

Blancas frowned, then smiled in sympathy “I take it you are referring to your physical form that you inhabit? Well, a solution to that can be easily arranged, and I thought you Time Lords still had that rather brilliant memory altering devices”

“Well, I can’t just go down and ask the CIA to place the entire bloody planet into a mind probe just so that people know me as me, can I?”

“Well of course not, that would be just as stupid as trying to erase it from the Matrix itself.” He said, in perhaps not the tone one would expect from such a suggestion. Most people would pass off that line as a joke, or at the very least an attempt at one, but Blancas delivered it with a voice that it felt like he was daring Romana on. A voice that made the mad idea seem in some small way appealing. A voice that said go on, give it a go, what’s the worst that could happen. A voice that was daring Romana to do it, to break into the Matrix, to erase her outdated identity and be welcomed with open arms as her true self with no questioning. And despite a nagging concern in the back of Romana’s mind, she had made up her mind.

She sighed. “All right. I’ll go on this quest for you. But I’d like to sort out a few things here on Gallifrey first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly this is just me validating my trans headcanon, I just happened to make a story as well. There'll be more on the way at some point hopefully, especially as I'll have more time in these days of plague...
> 
> Also thank you Kora for proofreading this and pointing out how bloody long I sometimes write my sentences...


	2. Chapter 2

Theolorosimovorda gaped at Romana “He asked you to do  _ what _ ?”

Romana repeated herself as Theo’s jaw dragged itself across the floor of the corridor “He wants me to go with the Doctor and search for the different segments of this Key thing across time and space. It should be rather fun, I think.”

“And you’re not at all worried about leaving the safety of the Citadel? You’re not concerned that you don’t even know this Doctor that you’ll be entirely responsible for on this mission? You don’t think it’s possible you’ll never survive past your first trip?” 

Romana ducked as Theo started to gesticulate enthusiastically, but failed to get a word in before they started up again. “It’s a dangerous place, there’s a reason the Time Lords stay out of it - it is  _ completely  _ lawless. Gallifrey is the only point of civilisation in a universe of chaos. Do you really want to sacrifice the safety and comfort of our own people and run off with some renegade who has stolen Time Lord property, brought Vardans and Sontarans to our door, and murdered a President?”

“I’m pretty certain that last one isn’t true,” Romana responded, “And even if it is, from what I can tell the High Council seems to trust him. He’s been sent out on missions dealing with everything from the creation of the Daleks to power shortages in the Citadel, and he’s only been put on trial by them a few times. Really, what is there to lose if I accept this offer?”

Theolor frowned “Do you really want me to answer that question?”

“Oh, of course, I would need to maintain my integrity as Borusa’s star pupil, of course, of course, that much is obvious, but do I really? What do I get from staying here? I’ll be stuck in a boring monotonous job like the rest of you, with no variety, no excitement, and the only bit of excitement we might  _ possibly  _ witness is the flash of a long scarf as someone much more interesting strides past without even acknowledging our existence.”

“We maintain a strict rule of non-interference! This isn’t just another little bit of arson we’re talking about - what you’re thinking of doing would break our most important laws! You’ve seen what would happen then, just look at how that went for that Doctor you’re such a fan of. He was forced onto Earth for years! The same could happen to you, but it won’t be as much fun as you seem to think that little trip of his was. It’ll be somewhere lonely, uninviting, and unfamiliar, and it won’t be safe, and… you won’t have structure to your life, and… and… and you won’t enjoy it one bit!” they finished, in a rather anticlimactic manner. 

Romana sighed. “We can debate this for as long as we like, but I’m still going”

“Fine. When will you be leaving? Oh, and how? And where will you go? Have you thought this out at all?”

“Oh, don’t start again, Theo. Besides, I’m not leaving yet, I’m planning a little leaving treat for you all. Not that you’d notice it if everything goes to plan, but it’s a nice idea”

“Would it kill you to just say things clearly?”

“Okay, okay.” Romana paused in consideration for a moment “you’ll be the first person I tell about this, so please, please don’t repeat this to anyone else. I would hate it if this got to other people, and it would be even worse if Borusa knew. The high council may hide it but there’s a long history of strict punishments for nonconformity on Gallifrey. So if this gets out - well, it’d be the end of me as a Time Lord.”

“Bloody hell, what is it you’re so worried about?”

Romana told them.

If their jaw had already dropped to the floor, it was at this moment on its way to the core of the planet.

Gender is not a topic often discussed on Gallifrey. Of course most regenerations could fit rather neatly into one of the binary genders that many other species forced upon themselves, and gendered pronouns were often used out of convenience, but on Gallifrey they had, for the most part, moved past it as a concept. In their eyes, the physical form that one held was as fluid as the gender that came with it.

Romana did not think like this. She was in the wrong body, and her mind never took a moment’s break in telling her that. When she opened her mouth a voice came out much deeper than she expected, a sound that was to her like a streak of mud spewing out for all to see. She had attempted to grow her hair longer, and received so many comments on it that she tore it out one angry night, swearing never to do it again. The next time she decided to do it again, it ended up being “just trimmed a little” for her graduation ceremony (suffice to say she never showed up that day, and had Theo collect it instead). And every time she tried to blend in, to not be noticed, she stuck out like a sore thumb, key word there being sore. It was painful, existing as something she was not. But what other option did she have?

“Quite a lot actually. There are  _ thousands _ of options. You could stay till the end of the bloody  _ universe _ listing other options than this. This is the stupidest way you could possibly do this.”

Romana refused to budge “But you’ll help? I need your help on this, I can’t do it alone”

Theo sighed “Yes. I will. But if anything goes wrong, you’re the one in charge. It’s your life on the line. I’m not risking mine just for this”

“Excellent.” Romana grinned as Theo walked away. As illegal as this was, it was going to be a lot of fun. She decided to do things like this more often, then remembered that was exactly what Blancas wanted her to do and grinned in such a way that would make one think she was about to commit a series of dreadful crimes. At least until a stern and brittle voice snapped her back to reality.

“Excuse me, but for what reason are you currently grinning in such a way that would make one think you are about to commit a series of dreadful crimes?” Borusa peered over an imaginary pair of spectacles at his student. 

“Oh, no reason sir. No reason at all” Romana responded, with a smile. “And may I ask for what reason you care?”

“Because I am your teacher, and I have had experiences with several previous students that make me want to check that you’re not doing anything illegal.” Borusa said, then added under his breath “Goodness knows how that bumbling chaotic renegade ever became president!”

Romana pretended not to hear, saying instead “Well as far as I know I’m not doing any dreadful crimes at the moment, and I’d rather like to head back to the records room”, and stepped to the side and walked past him.

"There is nothing more useless than a lock with a voiceprint" proclaimed Theo to the empty passage, and Borusa's hidden door, activated by the voiceprint, swung open. Theo ducked inside, leaving it open behind them. They peered around the room and were relieved to see that nothing had changed since they had last broken in. Thanks to the Time Lords' talent for procrastination none of the acting President's belongings had been cleared out of his old office, including the section of wall holding a large number of ostentatious keys. Theo confidently plucked one from its hook and turned to leave, then paused. It was going too quietly. It just didn’t feel much like crime. They patted down their pockets, found the box that they’d hoped they had on them, and grinned.

Ten minutes later, they were slamming the door on the room and wondering if it was really necessary to use the  _ entire _ box of matches. But still, it would create the distraction Romana wanted. It was only a couple of shelves of outdated paperwork they had burned anyway, along with a few bits of fabric and a plastic chair, just to make sure enough smoke was created to mask the wall of keys. They checked their watch, then stuffed the key they had taken into their pocket and jogged along the corridor, out of the secret passage, and down into the depths of the Citadel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More chapters incoming soon! thanks for all of your lovely reviews on chapter one as well, they really make my day when I read them!


	3. Chapter 3

As the encrypted lock beeped its irritating little tune once more, Romana felt like slamming her head into the wall. It seemed all the locks on doors on Gallifrey were created with the sole purpose of annoying whoever was trying to open them, and this one was trying its very hardest to drive Romana up the wall rather than through it. She groaned and cursed the quality of Time Lord locksmiths. It wasn’t even a very important room she was trying to get into, nor was she the first to break into it. If it could be done by a corpse and a sheet of psychic tinfoil, it could be done by her.  _ Yes, of course it can, _ said a voice in her head. Romana paused. The voices in her head were usually less helpful than this. As she thought this, it spoke again.  _ Yes, you are a clever one, aren’t you? I suggest you look in your pocket _ . Romana reached into her pocket and pulled out a small black crystal. As she peered at it it began to glow, and the voice spoke again.  _ I think you’ll agree it would be helpful for you to have something to talk at. This way people will think you’re slightly less insane for screaming at a crystal, rather than empty air _ . 

“Who are you?” she whispered urgently. “What do you want from me?”

_ Well, I would have thought that was obvious. I am your Guardian. I will always be with you, until our agreement is fulfilled, whether you like it or not. _

“Somehow I don’t think that’s the case. I don’t tend to agree to things without a lot of careful consideration.”

_ Ah, but you did. We talked about it. You said… you had a few things to sort out first.  _ There was a crash behind Romana, and a flash of light, and as she turned she saw a pillar of brightness so bright that she had to close her eyes for a second until it was gone. She cracked them open, and saw, to her surprise, a perfectly normal face frowning down at her furiously. It opened its mouth, but the voice that spoke seemed to come from all around her.

“ **I thought I would take the liberty of seeing precisely what it was you were up to,** ” said the figure, “ **and ensuring that you intended to follow through with what we had arranged.** ” it spoke with such a booming voice that Romana covered her ears, collapsed to the floor to block it out, but it came through regardless “ **I do not appreciate delays, and fully expect you to do what I ask of you. Join the Doctor. Find the Key. Do not delay further than you must, Romana. I will know if you do. I will know.** ”

“Let me do this one thing first! This is the planet of the Time Lords, it’s not like we have to be prompt, I can just use a TARDIS and go back in time!”

“ **Foolish child. These things stretch beyond Time, beyond Space, beyond anything you would ever know. This is between me and the Black Guardian. Do not try to comprehend our struggles. Do not try to stop us. Resistance is useless against us. Do your task, and ask me these endless questions no more.** ” 

Romana opened her eyes a crack, and found herself huddling in the corner of the corridor. Her heart thundering, she looked around for the Guardian, but could see no sign. She sat up, then stood and returned to the task at hand. The lock beeped as she tried another combination, and she growled and punched the wall next to the lock control, swearing loudly when the wall did more damage to her than she did to it.

“Mind your language, young lady,” said a voice that was trying incredibly hard to sound like Borusa. Romana turned, and there was Theo. 

"What kept you?" she asked them.

"Oh, I just wanted to make sure people wouldn't notice the key was gone, so I set fire to Borusa's office. I'm sure he doesn't mind; he has a new big one now that he's made himself president."

Romana sighed. "Did you get the right one?" 

Theo triumphantly held the key against the lock and the door glided open, and made an extravagant gesture for Romana to enter. " _ Ladies _ first" they said, and Romana tried hard not to smile. It was an annoying and silly act, but small things like that made all the difference.

The lights flickered into life as Romana and Theo entered the Matrix control room. A thick layer of dust coated the ancient tables, and the air had that feeling of an old mug of tea, left too long after pouring to be worth anybody’s time. As they walked further in the dim glow that passed for lighting flickered on, illuminating a hard bench with a small bundle of wires and the metal frame of a helmet sat on it.

“Nifty bit of headgear, isn’t it” remarked Theo. “Wonder what it does”

“I think it’s the thingumy that gets you into the Matrix.”

“Is that the technical term?”

“Yes.”

Theo peered at the control panel, and started singing quietly to themself “ I brought my baby home, she sat around forlorn. She saw my TVC one five, baby's gone. She crawled right in, my oh my. Oh, so demonic, oh, my TVC one five”

“Who’s that you’re quoting?” asked Romana, untangling the wires from the headset.

Theo laughed “Bowie. TVC One Five”

“Ah. Bowie. Did they ever find where he’d hidden his TARDIS?”

“No, but they did - ah!” Theo punched a button and the headset in Romana’s hands hummed as power was passed to it. “There we go. Should work now. Well, emphasis on ‘should’, but I for one am optimistic about this. Now, if I remember correctly you lie there on that bed thing”

“Exactly how much do you know about this?”

“I’ll have you know I was reading the instructions about a minute ago”

“That’s not going to give you much information”

“Well, I’m sure I’ll probably be fine”

“That’s easy for you to say, you’re not the one going in”

“Fair point. And speaking of, shall we begin?”

Romana grinned, and jammed the helmet onto her head “Let’s see what we can find,” she said, as the wires hummed and her eyes flickered shut as she entered the Matrix, and Theo ran forwards to catch her as she slumped forwards off the bench. As they positioned her laying down on it, they heard a clattering, and looked down, to see a crystal, small enough to hold in a hand but big enough that the sound of it hitting the hard floor echoed around the room. The crystal was a deep black, but as Theo held it up to the light a rainbow of colours seemed to flicker across the surface. They peered closer, mesmerised by the swirling lights, when suddenly there was a crash, and a deep, booming, screaming voice, but one which spoke with the pleasant tone of one that is convinced that everybody is in agreement, shouted at them from all around, and they collapsed to the floor, head pounding, and slipped into unconsciousness.

Romana fell. Romana kept falling. As Romana cracked her eyes open, she could see that falling was the main thing that she was doing, and as far as she could tell she wasn’t doing a very good job, given that she seemed to be getting nowhere or - or maybe, the blue, swirling vortex was falling with her. No, that was a stupid idea. The vortex wasn’t moving, and neither was she, but she still fell through the empty space stretching infinitely below her, which she also knew couldn’t be correct. She was falling, but floating, but not either truly, through the vortex that was inside the Matrix, while lying on a bench in an abandoned, long-forgotten room in the depths of Galifrey. Look down. Infinity. Look up. Infinity. Look to the side. Blueish tube, based on current evidence probably infinity beyond that. She would fall forever, be stuck here until Theo pulled her out. Romana closed her eyes. At least she could do a little meditation before she got taken out of whatever this tunnel was and back to reality.

And at that moment, with a mighty noise and considerable force, she hit the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok that was a bit of setting thing up and more plot-focused, sorry. Next chapter will hopefully just be Romana's shenanigans in the Matrix, so it should be more fun.


	4. Chapter 4

When Romana came to, the first thing she saw was a pair of eyeballs. The next thing she noticed was that she was lying on the sandy ground of an old quarry, pale rocks and small cliffs as far as could be seen. The last thing was that the aforementioned pair of eyeballs belonged to a person. That person had a long face, with a mighty nose jutting out from a mass of brown curls. His battered hat, muddy brown coat, and ridiculously long scarf completed the look of one who had, to use the technical term, gone completely off his rocker. He was looking down at Romana, and broke into a grin when he saw her frowning up at him.. 

“Ah, you’re awake! I was wondering how long it would take after that nasty fall - or, well, I suppose it wasn’t a fall at all. No, more of a materialisation, and a rather nasty one at that, don’t you think? Well, I do, can’t speak for anyone else really but I imagine you had a similar experience to me - not a very pleasant way to travel, that Matrix tunnel. I remember when I first arrived here I’d come using one, gave my real self an absolutely splitting headache. But from the inside, it honestly looks more like the opening of a television show than a means of getting into a computational matrix, just with a nasty bump at the - have they introduced television on Gallifrey yet? They really should, I could recommend a few things that they could broadcast, I could work out a whole schedule. But you’re not here to listen to me prattle on about my old job at the BBC, are you? In fact you’re -“ he stopped suddenly, frowned, and then adopted a tone of something in the vicinity of politeness, “Now, where are my manners? I’m the Doctor; what’s your name?”

Seizing her chance to get a word into the unrelenting stream of conversation (though it being as one-sided as it was it would be hard for one to class it as such), Romana sat up and said, in the strongest voice she could muster, “My name is Romanadvoratrelundar. I am a Time Lord, as you should well know since I was able to get in here. I’m here to tie up some loose ends here before I get off the wretched planet for good, so I would very much appreciate it if you let me get on with that.”

“Oh? And what loose ends would they be?”

“It’s only a few small personal things, nothing for you to worry about.”

The Doctor shook his head “I think that’s a little unfair. I mean, as the only other consciousness currently active in this computational micro-universe, it seems the only thing there is to worry about. Especially since it requires your presence here. You never know, I could help you with it.”

“Well, it’s not really something you would understand.”

“Oh I’m sure you’ll find I have an infinite capability for empathy, so you’re not a loud outsized pepper pot.”

“Well it’s - it’s to do with gender,” Romana confessed, against all better judgement. This version of the Doctor, whoever it was, seemed trustworthy, and it wasn’t like he would be able to tell anyone about it. “I think they got mine wrong.”

The Doctor peered at her. He pursed his lips, thinking for a moment, then his face opened into a wide grin. “You know, Romana, I think we have rather a lot more in common than you’d think. I think we’re going to get on very well indeed.”

After several hours of trekking through the quarry and the nearby woodland, Romana was inclined to disagree. The Doctor was very different to how she had imagined him - he was not a humble, quiet hero with intelligence and wisdom radiating off him in spades, but rather a loud, egotistical, and stupid fool, who one had to assume mostly did the saving of planets through luck, charisma, and other people doing to work for him. Sure, he was charming and witty, and could deliver a grandiose speech on whatever happened to be next to him, but he was not the sort of person that Romana would want to spend any amount of time with than she really had to. 

“So where is it we’re going?” she asked when the Doctor finally lapsed into silence and allowed her to lead the conversation.

“Well, what you said about gender seemed rather curious, for a Time Lord. As a species we never really think too much about external appearances, with the exception of those ridiculous collars the important ones insist on wearing. Now, I’ve always considered my body to be terribly important, but I was rather alone in that thought. And i was curious about the regeneration process, I mean where did it come from? Why do specific circumstances cause regenerations? Why did a species develop such a specific power, to be able to resurrect oneself, but with a change in personality and body that seemed completely random in terms of age and appearance. Now, that's not a question anyone really needs to know the answer to, but I thought that, since I was stuck here, I might as well try looking into the next best thing - how it works. So I built myself a TARDIS and set about investigating. And, if I can find the bloody thing, we can go in the TARDIS and I can show you the rest!" he grinned, and pulled a device out of his pocket

Romana frowned "But I thought we were inside the Matrix? We can't travel out of it in a TARDIS, we're just projections of our real selves. How can you build a functioning TARDIS?" 

The Doctor scratched his head, and peered at the readings from the device he held. "Well, strictly speaking… It's not really a TARDIS, it just looks like one. It's actually what I like to call a sort of Matrix navigational manipulator, or an MnM. Oh, and, speaking of sweets, would you like a Jelly Baby? They're purely fictional, but I think I got the flavourings about right." 

He held out a paper bag to Romana, who cautiously pulled out a sweet, which bore a crude resemblance to a Time Lord, complete with the ostentatious collars, on which were etched several rude words in Circular Gallifreyan. Romana sighed. "I hope you put as much effort into this MnM as you did your sweets."

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll be very impressed when I show it to you - aha!” The Doctor smacked his forehead and stopped suddenly “I have it!”

Romana raised an eyebrow.

“No, no, don’t worry. I think…” He peered around, then stepped suddenly forward - and disappeared.

Romana frowned. “I was expecting something more impressive.”

The Doctor’s head popped back into existence, as if coming round the side of an invisible door “Well, I was going to add all sorts of flashes and bangs but I’m afraid all the attention went into making it actually work, so you’ll excuse me if the door’s a bit basic.” He thought for a moment. “If I say I’m saving my most impressive tricks for later, will you step inside and allow me to show you them?”

“Well, I don’t see why not. I mean, after that I doubt there could be anything  _ less  _ impressive to see.”

“That’s the spirit!” The Doctor called, and Romana stepped through with trepidation.

"I must say, Doctor," said Romana, cautiously, "I was expecting something a little…"

"Grander? No, I’ve always been more partial to a classic look for these things." Doctor studied the controls of what appeared to be a normal type 40 TARDIS, and made a few adjustments. "All right, we should be good to go. I think I'll need your help piloting it but you seem a capable young lady, so I'm sure you'll be alright with that. Can you hold that lever down please?"

"What is it?"

"Dimensional stabiliser"

"What does that do?"

"Well, to put it simply, it… well, it stabilises dimensions" said the Doctor, leaning down and fishing out some wires from underneath the console. "We don't want to end up flat as pancakes, do we?" he held two of the wires together, and winced as sparks flew out. The lights surrounding them dimmed suddenly, and a whooshing, wheezing sound came from all around - not the comforting engines of a TARDIS, but an uncomfortable groan that only grew louder as the Doctor slammed dozens of buttons on the console, and the central column rattled in its place. Romana held onto the console as the whole room shook, and she tried her best to keep the dimensional stabiliser steady, while the Doctor busied himself jumping to and fro across the console, pressing an array of multicoloured buttons and pulling inconveniently designed levers until, all of a sudden, the lights came on, the shaking subsided, and the room seemed to breathe itself a sigh of relief.

“There!” proclaimed the Doctor proudly, “A perfect landing!” he grinned, and pressed one final switch on the console. There was a very loud noise, and a cloud of smoke erupted from the console. “Well, almost perfect” The Doctor coughed loudly and dispersed the fumes, then smiled at Romana. “Shall we take a look outside?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took a while to get another chapter out, I've been struggling with schoolwork for all of the lockdown so far so I haven't been able to write much. However, it's half-term so I might be able to get another one done reasonably soon!


End file.
